Tag: Taxi

This week, the day that I dreaded finally came true. The days of Dad’s taxi came to an end.. No.. I’m not shutting down this blog!

My 17 year old daughter got her provisional driver’s license and now she is totally mobile with her own car.. A hand me down.. from my father. .. to her sister.. to her.. A 2003 Honda Civic with very very low miles..

Of course.. in my last attempt at maintaining some control I had to take some final steps to ensure her safety has she hit the perilous travails on the roads of Central New Jersey.

I signed a contract with my 17 year old.. on what hours she can drive using her provisional license (6AM – 11PM).. Nothing outside those hours

Only she can drive the car.. The car is NOT to be used by her BFF’s.

She needs to tell mom/dad whenever she goes out as to her destination and must text/call us that she has arrived at her destination.

She is responsible for ensuring car is in working order.. If any major maintenance is to be done, Mom/Dad will take care of it.

She’s fully insured (Courtesy of Dear Dad).

Drive defensively.. There is a reason why NJ has one of the highest insurance rates. If you live in NJ, you know what I mean by this.

No Texting and driving! Phone is to be turned off whenever she gets in the car if she is the driver.

She even started taking the care to High School!

So Dad’s Taxi is now officially out of business.. Unless of course my girls want me to drive them around when they are home!

This Thanksgiving, Dad’s Taxi takes a left turn and talks about of being thankful and the end of the past and the beginning of the future…

For Dad’s Taxi, Thanksgiving is always the start of new beginnings and the end of times. I know many will say that makes no sense at all. Well the answer to that is Yes and No.

I was looking at the empty screen of my posting board and thinking that perhaps I’ll write about what I’m thankful for this year. Yet I knew that would just be a rehash of things that I’m thankful for every day. So I’m taking a left turn and writing more about that things that I found closure in this year, or as I call in my own way.. “The end of the Beginning”.

End of Times:

Debt: Many of my readers know that the pervasive thing that I write about on this blog is Debt. Well in 2013, I finally become debt free. Yes! I did it. Yet to be perfectly honest, this did not come free of cost. I lost my dad this year because of him I am now debt free. Everything he said about debt rings true in my ears and a part of him (unfortunately) still lives inside me.

Forgiveness and letting go: With my dad’s passing in January of this year, I learned many important lessons and if not the most important was forgiveness and letting go. I struggled for so many years with not being able to forgive him for the perceived and some real injustices he had done to our family as we were growing up. In the last 3 months of his life, I saw him every day becoming more and more frail and losing touch with reality. He was dependent on my visits as he lay in his hospital bed’s unable to control his life, with flashes of memory of his past. May god rest his soul.

Self actualization and understanding: This year I became more aware of how much ingrained personality traits I had as a result of my childhood and adulthood growing up in the dysfunction that I call Dad’s taxi of life.

Moving forwards and not looking back: Understand your past and you will be able to move forward. If you continue to regret “what if’s”, you will never be able to treasure what you had and move on with the next part of your life.. I guess this is an ongoing

epiphany that have on a daily basis.

I’m grateful to my wife and kids for giving me all the materials that I get to write about. Without Dad’s Taxi and the postings I make here, I’m not sure whether, I’d be as thankful as I am today for what I have, regardless of where tomorrow takes me.

To all my family, friends, readers, supporters, and I’m thankful to each of you for making my life so interesting..